From the Desk's Religion -and- Mystery Series...

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The Questions you ARE NOT supposed to ask your Sunday School Teacher -
Answered! Part Two.....

      This part outing isn't for the feint of heart or those easily upset. We're going to tackle some biggest, and smallest, most OFF LIMITS subjects in Western Christianity today. We'll begin with perhaps one of the easier ones, then we'll "speak in tongues", do some sort of odd dance around the Virgin Mary, and see what else we can come up with that might get us in trouble with both the staunchly conservative group and those of a more progressive / liberal stance.
      We might even get accused of being a Heretic by somebody whose allegiance still lies with the Roman See.
      Not often you can upset almost everybody with one article!

      First off, we need to define that term in the subtitle, which isn't as easy as one would think.
      To begin with, we have to take something out of the definition, and then, later in a couple of these topics, we may put it back. And that is:

Blasphemy
      We're going to define that one in a rather narrow and simple way: "a continual blatant and intentional show of disrespect and even hatred of God and anything considered Sacred." It is something that is done willfully, repeatedly, and knowingly. It is NOT something that is the subject of a single joke that is in bad taste or an offhand remark, what this is referring to is more of a life choice of disregarding God and His Works, including a belief set that sees no difference between good and evil.
      In some places on Earth, even today, even a suspicion of blasphemy can bring swift summary judgment, lengthy prison sentences, and even execution. See Reuters link below for a recent case involving a death sentence from a religious court.
      In Biblical times, saying that something that was of God was the work of Satan would also qualify, as would the opposite. As does "Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit", see Mark 3 : 29 for example, and we'll come back specifically to that one in a few minutes. One of the things one of the creatures during one of the nastier scenes in Revelation makes a special point of doing all the above, see Revelation 13 : 6 for that one.

Heresy
      But in most cases under the Great Inquisition, Blasphemy was not part of the discussion. It was enough that those in positions of authority had reason to make the accusation of Heresy, which was broadly defined as doing.... well, ANYTHING those who ran the State Church didn't like, but might not be in violation of Scripture. For a very good example of this power being misused we need look no further than Southern France and the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars in 1210 until about 1230 where, by some accounts, nearly 20,000 people died. Yes, there was a full blown crusade of armed knights and soldiers against civilians in mainland France.
      The Cathars were a separatist religious group who were going about their own business and following their own slightly unusual beliefs. However, they were Christians, although maybe somewhat loosely if you're judging them against a tight reading of scripture. But by breaking ties with the Roman See, and not standing around praising the King of France, who was Very Catholic, they set up their own downfall. This is where a famous quote originated:
"Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius". ("Kill 'all of' them. The Lord knows those that are his own".)
- Papal Legate Arnaud Amalric (died 1225)

      Even during Old Testament times, certain False Prophets were in operation spreading incorrect teachings among the people. The first warning against them comes in Deuteronomy 18 : 21 - 22, but what may be the best warning comes from Jeremiah, as the New King James phrases it:
"Thus says the Lord of hosts: 'Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of the Lord.'"
- Jeremiah 23:16

      During the infamous, and unfortunate, period of the Great Inquisition which ran in Europe, and the overseas colonies of European powers, from 1542 into the 1830s the working definition of Heresy was essentially anything the local Roman Catholic Bishop didn't like. The charges ranged from the standard charge of witchcraft all the way down to just being suspected of being a Freemason. While there is precious little direct evidence that if you missed a religious service without being verified as being profoundly sick in bed that you'd end up being dragged in front of a judge, there is plenty of evidence that in Puritan America, see links below for more on all of this. Which means that while The Holy Office of the Inquisition gets most of the bad press, the idea of religious courts attempting to stamp out all forms of Heresy, again, as defined by whoever was running the local church, was quite widespread.
      And to some degree, it is now even more widespread, and we're not just talking about religion now. Those that hold to various political doctrines now refuse to tolerate any dissent, and this is seen on both sides of the political aisle. However, unlike with Legate Amalric's outing, so far there haven't been 140 people burned at the stake.

      Contrary to what some say, the Vatican's Holy Office of the Inquisition has never ceased to exist. It has only been renamed a couple of times instead of dismantled, and is currently called the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, see resource link below. However, they appear to be more engaged with trying to keep a lid on extreme ideas from within the church than chasing an old ex-sportswriter through the streets.

"Who (What) is The Holy Spirit?"
      In the Old Testament ....
        .... is this "the female aspect" of the Godhead ....
              ..... and look at the Blasphemy thereof.

      This is the least understood aspect of GOD. From the Spirit's first appearance in Genesis 1 : 2 where we see Him moving across the water on the 'formless' Earth, the role of the Spirit in the Old Testament is mysterious, but crucial to the overarching Story of the Bible. This is such a murky topic that one of the objections Martin Luther had to including Revelation in the Bible canon was that: "For myself, I think it approximates the Fourth Book of Esdras; I can in no way detect that the Holy Spirit produced it." See link below to his full comments and the other link to our introduction to Revelation.

      The Spirit is integral to the overall Trinity. They are one in the same. You cannot separate one from the other. GOD can, as was seen at the Baptism of Jesus when each of the Three are identified individually. But you cannot say that one is The Creator and that the others are not because in the section dealing with the creation of humans, the term is plural, "let Us make".

      Now, having said all that, the Manifestation of the Spirit when in this world is a different story.
      For this example we'll look at the scene with the Elders in Numbers 11. Beginning in verse 24 when Moses pulls in seventy elders from among the people and brought them to the Tabernacle. Then in 25 something unusual for the Old Testament happens: "And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was on him, and gave it to the seventy elders, and when the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but did not do it again." (Modern English Version)
      Then look at the next verse, two of the guys that were on Moses' list didn't go to the 'tent meeting' and stayed in camp, and they continued to "naba". The Hebrew word means to speak under the influence of the Divine, it includes both religious instruction and predictions. Remember that point, it comes up again later.

      That is a consistent sign of the presence of the Spirit of God. That aspect of GOD that is absolutely directly involved with our everyday lives. That the individual person with the Spirit has skills and abilities above and beyond the norm for garden variety humans.
      We see again and again how everybody from Samson to Elijah performed wonders and even miracles, see Elisha's act in 2 Kings 4 beginning at verse 32. Evidently that was what was meant by Elisha having a "double portion" of the spirit of Elijah, and it wasn't just for making gardening tools float as in 2 Kings 6.

      First Samuel 16 is where the Holy Spirit came to David, the future king. But in Psalm 51 David, who had been a VERY bad boy, says:
"Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me."

      We'll end this part of this part with a quote from the Minor Prophets that says it all:
"Then hee answered and spake vnto mee, saying; This is the word of the Lord vnto Zerubbabel, saying; Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hostes." (1611 KJV)

      For the next section our look at the Spirit moves into the New Testament, which also includes some aspects that some see as Feminine.

      Many ancient religions have a definite female aspect to their godhead. Sometimes the goddess is the principle figure in the religion, and sometimes she is the consort to the male lead. A discussion of them is beyond the scope of this article, but a separate examination of the more important of those would be fascinating, no?
      The three great religions that descended from the beliefs of Abraham are very nearly unique in that there is no recognized female entity in a high profile position. At least in the foundation documents of the Christian branch of the three there was not, we'll come back to that later.
      But there is an interesting caveat to that idea. The role of the Spirit as The Helper and The Comforter as promised by Christ in the Gospel of John. See chapters 14 and 16. Those roles are most assuredly feminine in nature. Even though the Spirit is ALWAYS referred to with a male pronoun.
      The idea is not that far fetched, because, after all, GOD created both the male and the female.
      Now to answer the question: "is the Spirit the 'female aspect' of the Godhead?" No, that is bringing more human traits to the Divine than are needed to explain the role of the CREATOR in the Creation.

      Which brings us to that third point in this section, what is the Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?

      That's fairly simple. And yes we're back in Mark 3, specifically 28 and 29, and the similar passage in Luke 12.
      The word here is "blasphemeo", it is the same term used when the Pharisees accused Jesus in Matthew 9 and 26. And is used again when He was on the cross and people passed by and spoke abuse toward Him, see Matthew 27 : 39 in the Interlinear, these people were in the Presence of the Messiah and intentionally did not believe, and mocked Him, while ignoring the words of their own prophets.
      It is worth noting that this is the same word used in the discussion about Paul in Ephesus about its temple of Diana in the second half of Acts 19, somebody had evidently accused him of openly defaming their patron.
      We'll sum it up like this, and remember, this is the view from up in the cheap seats, this writer has no more authority on the subject than Martin Luther did to dismiss John's Apocalypse, so here we go:
      We can only work with the text as presented by the Gospel Writers. In short, that Blaspheming the Holy Spirit is stating, and acting like, the Work of the Spirit is either unholy, or even demonic, doing so knowing full well what you are doing, and then repeating it, as a matter of course.
      Perhaps a famous modern example, speaking in tongues. Oh yeah, we'll go down that mine shaft, no problem.

"Speaking in Tongues"
      This is one of the earliest manifestations of the Spirit indwelling humans, and one of the least understood.
      Some modern churches are built on people jumping up and speaking in "an unknown tongue" as proof of their salvation. There are numerous videos of somebody "praying in the Spirit" making all sorts of sounds. Several years ago there was a radio program with a female pastor who would get "caught up in the Spirit" while on the radio and speak in tongues.
      None of it is Scriptural. Although it does prove that somebody did read their King James Bible. And of course we're going to back that statement up with scripture. There are links below to multiple English translations, as well as the Greek in the Interlinear.

      Pentecost. Acts 2.
      The operative word there is "glossais", which does mean 'tongue' but it also means 'tongue in terms of a known language'.
      The word is first used in verse 4 and then confirmed in context in verses 6 and 7.
      This is also seen in chapters 10 and 19, but always with an express purpose, such as the "naba" incident from Numbers 25 we mentioned in the Holy Spirit section.
      We'll move on to 1 Corinthians beginning in chapter 12 where Paul goes out of his way to conduct extensive teaching on the phenomenon. Look closely at 12 : 10. There is something else there besides the speaking in tongues. This all comes to a head in chapter 14. Paul never says that it shouldn't happen, but that if it does, there's a reason for it. And he comes down on the side of "interpretation" pretty soundly (all puns intended) in verses 16 and 17.
      Now we'll quote 12 : 18 and 19 before moving on, this is the NIV.
"I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue."

      Paul then goes on into a quote from Isaiah 28, and then talks about how it is a sign to unbelievers who may say you are all crazy. Then he states that prophecy is the superior gift.

      What's that do to the stance of somebody that wants to stand up and jabber on in some sort of sing-song gibberish? And when one of those sitting nearby gaping in amazement was asked what the person was saying, they didn't know. Nobody was interpreting for the benefit of the congregation.

      Now, after we went through all that, is their speaking in tongues, for instance, the woman on the radio, is that the work of the Holy Spirit or was she under the influence of somebody, or something, from a bit further down the stairs, or perhaps in the basement? Or was it simply her own decision and she was willingly engaging in a bit of .... jabbering for fun and profit?
      We can't say. No. Really we can't. If The Creator wanted them to start speaking French, they're going to speak French like a native, it is that simple. But as Paul suggested "prophecy" which includes the idea of religious instruction and understanding as well as "future telling" is much harder to... to... fake, to put it bluntly.
      IF, somehow, their actions are from God, then we're just as guilty as the people casting derision on Christ when he was on the cross.
      However, we can say that their babbling stunt appears to be showboating for the attention of people, like those that were praying in Matthew 6: 5, and does not meet the criteria set by Paul with somebody translating for the audience, such as being on the radio speaking in an unknown tongue without somebody translating it for the people listening. You can draw your own conclusions from that.

      OK, we'll leave that one right there and do this:

"OT God of wrath versus NT God of Love"
      This one is often mentioned by those Sunday School types that say they have trouble reconciling the God of Genesis 19 that destroyed two cities with fire from heaven with the God of 1 John 4's, extra points if you know the VBS sing-a-long version of this:

"7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love." (NKJV)

      We'll go with one of each. How about an Old Testament example from one of those books that people forget is in the Old Testament.
"They refused to obey; they forgot all You did; they forgot the miracles You had performed. In their pride they chose a leader to take them back to slavery in Egypt. But You are a God who forgives; You are gracious and loving, slow to be angry. Your mercy is great; You did not forsake them."
- Nehemiah 9:17 (GNT)

      And now how about a bit of the Wrath of God from 'Gentle Jesus':
"Then He will say to those on his left, ‘Away from Me, you that are under God's curse! Away to the eternal fire which has been prepared for the Devil and his angels! I was hungry but you would not feed Me, thirsty but you would not give Me a drink..."
- Matthew 25 : 41 - 42 (GNT)
      And now we'll look at more about Jesus. (that might be a good hymn, 'more, more about Jesus'.)

"Jesus in OT"
      Examples: "Us" and "Our" in Genesis 1 / fiery furnace / Melchizedek / "man among the trees" in Zechariah's chapter 1 vision.
      We'll go through these with a "yes" or a "no" or a "we don't know" and perhaps a bit of explanation.
      The first is the easiest to answer, 'is Jesus part of the plural pronoun in Genesis?' with the first "yes" and we'll cite the first five verses of the Gospel of John as all the explanation needed. Should we go ahead and quote it? Yeah.... it's a beautiful image, and the 1611 KJV turns the phrase wonderfully as it recalls the initial act of Creation from Genesis 1.

"In the beginning was the Word, & the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darknesse, and the darknesse comprehended it not."

      Melchizedek.
      We looked at him in Part One of this extended article. But now we'll look at him with one eye on the floating internet article that ol' Mel was actually an incarnation of Jesus.
      We're just going to quote a line from Psalm 110 : 4, and then point you at the follow up in Hebrews 7.
"The Lord makes this promise on oath and will not revoke it: 'You are an eternal priest after the pattern of Melchizedek.'" (New English Translation)
      If the King of Salem was actually an early edition of Jesus, the statement from King David would not make any sense.
      No. This King was an early believer in YHWH, and the human sovereign of the city that would later be called Jerusalem.

      Zechariah was one of the Minor Prophets who had a whole series of visions which make up the first half of his book. Of interest to our project here is the first one which is introduced by the statement in 1 :7:
"On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month Shebat, in Darius’ second year, the Lord’s message came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah son of Iddo:"

      The prophet had just spent the first part of his book telling Israel that the Lord was angry with them, now, he's talking about a man who rides into the scene on a red horse and then walks around under some trees.
      The first person Zech talks to is identified as an "angelic messenger". However, the "man among the trees" is never directly referenced as anything other than the rider of the red horse that then stands under the trees and tells the prophet what was going on.
      Again we're faced with an inconclusive text. It is obvious that the guy in the forest had inside information, and the angel deferred to him during the exchange, as he did to the one speaker that is identified as The Lord, but without more information, we cannot say for sure who the 'man among the trees' was.
      A good guess is that as a red horse is used as a symbol of war / conquest throughout prophecy, the guy in the trees may well be the embodiment of Divine Wrath that is simply taking a break in the shade of the trees before He finishes His ride. Was it Christ in His role as seen later in Revelation? OK, sure. Why not? Does what we think about it make any difference to Anybody in the scene?

      So, bottom line, did Jesus put in a couple of cameo appearances on Earth before He appeared in His primary role as The Messiah? There is no way to be certain, even with what ol' King Neb said.
      If Jesus did, He did. Exactly what difference does that make to our everyday life and faith?
      It is enough that when He came to die, that He did and that He rose again. Right?
      Which brings up our next topic.

"What if Jesus hadn't gone to the cross?" -and- "What if Judas hadn't betrayed Him?"
      These are the easiest of all of them to answer.
      Humanity, as a whole, would still be under the Law, and therefore, essentially, Lost, with no hope.

      As far as Judas's part in the drama. It would seem that he had been born to it just as John the Baptist had been born into his role. And if not, if Judas had changed his mind and not betrayed Christ to the authorities, one of the others would have, or the Jewish leadership would have found them out on the street one day and scooped Him up. It was going to happen. Period.

      Next?

"The Teaching Authority of the Roman Catholic Church Superseding Scripture."
      OK, we can look at that. Do you want a general answer or should we look at a couple of specifics first?

"try ... Papal infallibility, Relics, Saints, Latin Mass, Theotokos (and other titles) and the alleged 'deification of Mary'"
      (includes disciples vs 'brothers' part 2)

      Very well. We'll hit the second one first, which reflects on several of those (we'll come back to the pope and his issues), with a whole slew of documentation below. And one of the sources for the answer goes back to about 250 AD in Coptic Egypt.

      Yes. We're going there. Head on, at speed, with direction and intent. But first, two things.
      One, there are "Catholics in the Pews" that are believing, living, acting, praying Christians. Just as there are in almost every Protestant church in the land. As for the ranking clergy in Either group, we'll leave that matter to God.

      Second: This author has stated it before, and such is linked below in the Revelation Study special edition on the "Women in the Apocalypse, chapters 12 and 17" which spelled it out:

"... from the start of it, and to state it clearly and implicitly: this is NOT a hatchet job on the Virgin Mary. No, it is not. There is nothing good that can come from attacking her as the human woman who gave birth to the Messiah. Again, that is not what we are doing here. The statements and teachings about her that came, in many cases, thousands of years after she lived, in both the Eastern and Western churches, are not her fault and cannot be blamed on anything she said or did. In fact, the one thing Mary did say about her son sums it up. In John 2, she tells the servants: 'Do whatever He tells you to do.' We would do well to live by that."

      While the Vatican has remained almost mum (pun? well... almost) on the issue, they have not made any effort to discourage the traffic to see the relic and the veneration of it. And if you've never heard of the Chartres Cathedral, it is well worth a look. There are links below to it.

A tangent on Relics
      There are three types of relics. A "first class relic" is something that comes down to us from the life of Christ or his Apostles. This category also includes the physical remains of a recognized martyr, such as a bone or some of their hair. But it can include the remains of a regular "canonized" Saint.
      "Second class relics" are items that a martyr or saint owned or used. Such as their personal rosary or prayerbook, or even an item of their clothing. The more valuable the item was to the person the more important the relic is regarded to be.
      And then comes the class of former 'relics by association', "third class relics" some of which were items that had merely come into direct contact with a first or second class relic. This rather odd category even used to include lamp oil that had been in lamps that burned at the most sacred shrines, and was then taken out of the lamps, mixed with howevermuch non-sacred oil, and then passed out to the faithful, or sold to them, as a relic. This category of relics was officially abolished by church order in 2017 due to abuses, such as the selling of diluted 'holy oil'. But the devotion to some of these items persists. A good example is the "holy lance" Roman spear that was used to pierce Christ's side when he was on the cross. At last count, there are at least three of them in Europe. One of them is in that ancient cathedral in Armenia, another is in Rome, and there's one Austria. Oh, well.
end tangent

      But "relics" in general go back to a passage in Acts 19 where a cloth that an Apostle touched healed the sick. But there is no indication that that became a common practice or was actively encouraged by Paul or the Apostles. And it most certainly did not persist after they "exited stage right".
      Human nature being what it is, when a religious figure of note died, their body was entombed in a prominent place and then somebody would tell the story about how they had done this or that. And then the people coming to see the tomb would want to take something back, and the local church where the person had been a child wanted something to tie them to the local area, and they found out they had something the figure had used when they lived there, so it became the centerpiece of this side chapel for pilgrims. And there we go, our next topic.

Is venerating a relic / icon / statue of a saint, or even the Eucharist, 'idolatry'?
      It can be.
      It comes down to what the individual believer is actually doing. NOT what they say they are doing, but what is in their heart and mind, which is often very different.
      In many cases the believer in the pew has been instructed to pray TO the saint represented with the icon or relic. Such as this prayer TO Saint Anthony of Padua...

"O Holy St. Anthony gentlest of Saints, your love for God and charity for His creatures, made you worthy, when on earth, to possess miraculous powers. Encouraged by this thought, I implore you to obtain for me (request).
O gentle and loving St. Anthony, whose heart was ever full of human sympathy, whisper my petition into the ears of the sweet Infant Jesus, who loved to be folded in your arms. The gratitude of my heart will ever be yours. Amen."
- St. Anthony Shrine, Boston, MA, USA (link below)

Saint Michael Prayer
"Saint Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God
cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits
who prowl throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen."
- Gethsemane Ministries, Toronto, Canada. (link below)

      It comes down to the first and second of the Ten Commandments from Exodus 20. Except, perhaps, in reverse order. Have they taken a graven image and made it their god?
      If they are saying the above prayers to the 'saint' and not to GOD, the answer is "yes". Especially when you compare that to that line in Revelation 22 that we'll come back to in a moment.
      And that includes "Eucharist Worship" which is the adoration of a cracker. Yes it is. Nevermind "transubstantiation", it's a CRACKER! and a stale one at that. See multiple links below. (sometimes being a Doctor of Metaphysics has its drawbacks)

Oh, we forgot to look at saints as the term is used in the NT and the Mass being celebrated in Latin
      "hagios" and various forms thereof, is the term most usually rendered as 'saints' in the New Testament, occurring some twenty times from Acts to Revelation. The root meaning is "set apart" and is also used as "holy".
      The only obvious difference between regular 'standard issue' Christians and those of any renown in heaven is in Revelation 6, where an unnumbered group of martyrs ask God when their lives will be avenged. Even the Apostles who were murdered, such as James in Acts 12, are not held out with any other special status. And therefore any devotion to them is misguided.
      And if angels are explicitly not to be worshiped, see refresher at Revelation 22 beginning at verse 8, then why would anybody think that other humans are so worthy?
      Yes, it is a good idea to study such good hard objective information as we have about the lives of those believers that have come before. To some degree, it can teach us just how bad our own times can get. Some of their lives are well documented, and some, such as Francis of Assisi, are legendary. We would do well if a 'Saint Francis' were to join our local church.
      Perhaps we should point out that the originator of the Franciscan orders, and all that came from them, was a layman. Not a regular member of the church clergy. Later on, the Roman Church put some of his followers, the Fraticelli, who were adhering to his idea of total poverty on trial for heresy. See New Advent article linked below.

      A minute on the Latin Mass...
      Christ, while on Earth, did NOT speak in Latin to the people. Probably at all. The Eastern half of the Roman Empire used Greek for all but a few official documents, so even the Centurion with the ill servant most likely spoke Greek. When the Empire was divided in 330 AD (or so), it was divided into the Latin speaking West and Greek speaking East. The language of the people in Judah and Galilee was Aramaic, the language of the Temple and of the local synagogues was Hebrew. Paul apparently knew some Latin, but all of his letters were in Greek, even his letter to the Romans, which may have been one of the first New Testament works translated into Latin so the locals could read it.
      One of the primary reasons the Mass was read in Latin was to make it mysterious and special to the locals, most of whom were illiterate in ANY language. Which is also why when Tyndale and others translated the Bible into the languages of the common people, Rome got really upset. If the people could read the Good News for themselves, they wouldn't be as dependent on the local parish. It was as much about power and control, and money, as theology.

      The Roman Catholic Church, and indeed, many Protestant denominations as well, are massively top heavy organizations. Their budgets are enormous, just for office staff. Which was one of the reasons the Papacy began selling indulgences and allowing living sinners to pay to keep themselves, or to get dead sinners, out of purgatory, the existence of which is another matter which comes under the 'teaching authority of the church' and not scripture. Which we'll come back to in a moment.

      This all goes back to what happens when Man starts to introduce human-based ideas into the Good News from GOD.
      The Gospel was very simple. Only a handful of essential points were made by Christ and the Apostles. As we said before, it was almost TOO simple. And some people wanted to set rules for other Christians to follow. First it was the Jewadizers that Paul and the others preached against. These were Jews who could not live under the rules implemented by the Pharisees and others, and yet they wanted to force new Christians to adopt those very regulations. Most of which had nothing to do with the Law of God. That should sound familiar by this point.

      So how did it happen?
      Well. We'll start with this. It didn't happen suddenly. There wasn't a single long weekend where the Pope's office manager came in on Tuesday and put out a memo that said: "The Holy Father is now infallible on matters of faith, and the statements of the church overrule scripture." and sent it to everybody.
      No. It happened over a period of centuries. And if you stand back and look, you can see it building point by point, some of which were even good ideas.

      We'll go way back. To about 500 AD when the first devotional prayers to the Virgin Mary trickled in from the East. The South East to be exact where the oldest known example of a prayer to her is found in some Coptic and Gnostic documents that come down to us in various collections like the Nag Hammadi, see links below to some of these.

"Unto Thy compassion do we flee, o Mother of God. Despise not our supplication in difficulty, but deliver us from danger, o only pure one, only blessed."
- see link below for the prayer in the original language.

      According to the source, today the prayer is used in the liturgy of the church and is even sung in schools before classes start. However, its inclusion in only a few of the service documents indicates that she was not originally the focus of the worship assembly.
      That soon changed.

      We'll hit a few highlights, but we'll start with what we know.
      The Gospels state that Mary was a betrothed virgin from Nazareth. It is known that her and her husband to be are both of the line of King David. And we know that Mary's older 'cousin' was expecting a son. But we have no idea of anything else. Even her age is speculation and the names of her parents are unknown, and we'll come back to that.

      By the year 1000, all sorts of non-Biblical stories were being told about the Virgin Mary. With the "Infancy Gospel of James", a pseudepigraphic book written around 300 AD in Syrian Greek being the source for most of them.
      The book itself was condemned by various authorities, and is even linked to a heretical sect based in Syria that forbade marriage and proposed a vegetarian diet, but, nevertheless, the ideas from it soon prevailed in the European church. These sorts of falsehood may have forced an early church leader to write the Didache.
      There is no way we can go through all of the legends and stories and proclamations, and indeed, some of them may even be true although there is no way to investigate the life of a peasant child, especially a girl, in a rural section of a vassal state.

      We'll start with Mary's childhood. Nothing is known. As we said, even the name of her own mother is from the previously mentioned "Gospel of James". Even though Saint Anne (Anna) is named as Mary's mother by various organizations, and the vessel for that Immaculate Conception we discussed earlier, the source document for that information is not credible. And if the information is made up, then any dogma of the church that is based on it would be.... what?
      The legend that Mary spent her early years in the temple is based on chapter 6 of the Infancy Gospel in the Roberts translation linked below. See the speech in verse 2 and think about how it appears to be written in support of the beginning of the cult of the worship of Mary.
      Another of the legends based in the book is that Mary stayed a virgin forever. We'll simply cite the passage from the translation from Ronald F. Hock's "The Infancy Gospels of James and Thomas". This is chapter 20, verses 1 - 3

"And the midwife went in and said, 'Mary, position yourself, for not a small test concerning you is about to take place.'
When Mary heard these things, she positioned herself. And Salome inserted her finger into her body. And Salome cried out and said, 'Woe for my lawlessness and the unbelief that made me test the living God. Look, my hand is falling away from me and being consumed in fire.'"
- see "Infancy Gospel..." link below.

"In the 16th Century, France was to know a religious split : the great majority of the country remained faithful to Catholicism, whilst an important majority joined the Reformation. Coexistence of the two confessions throughout the Kingdom showed itself to be inapplicable. War could no longer be avoided and civil tolerance had failed. Eight wars of religion were to succeed each other throughout 36 years..."
https://museeprotestant.org/en/notice/the-eight-wars-of-religion-1562-1598/

Multiple Translations Available: https://www.biblegateway.com/

https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/
See the original scans of the 1611 text, such as: Iohn 1 https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Iohn_1_1611/

Hebrew and Greek Interlinear https://biblehub.com/interlinear/

Many interesting documents available at the https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org

That link about the news: Nigeria's sharia blasphemy law not unconstitutional, court rules." https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/nigerias-sharia-blasphemy-law-not-unconstitutional-court-rules-2022-08-17/

For more on the Inquisition in the New World see: https://agencia.fapesp.br/how-the-inquisition-worked-in-brazil/18614/#:~:text=The%20Portuguese%20Inquisition%20was%20established,the%20Port%2C"%20he%20said.

https://historycollection.com/religious-persecutions-in-colonial-new-england-caused-immense-humiliation/

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_pro_14071997_en.html

The Inquisition from a Jewish perspective. http://www.jewishwikipedia.info/charges.html

Oldest Known Marian Prayer https://veterumsapientia.org/the-oldest-known-marian-prayer/
And More:
"One of the prayers Pope Francis asked for this month is the most ancient Marian prayer" https://aleteia.org/2017/04/29/the-oldest-known-marian-prayer-is-from-egypt/

The Infancy Gospel of James: Index of various versions https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/infancyjames.html
Including:

"The following translation is based on the Greek text printed in Ronald F. Hock's 'The Infancy Gospels of James and Thomas'. The text, which provided the basis for the Jesus Seminar's "Scholars Version ...

Cathedral and Churches of Echmiatsin and the Archaeological Site of Zvartnots https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1011/

The original Nicene creed from 325 AD compared with a later edition: https://www.theopedia.com/nicene-creed
-and-
And in depth discussion of the text: https://www.englishtexts.org/the-nicene-creed

Article talks about the chronology of Hippolytus of Thebes: https://christianwomenturkey.com/2018/10/06/15-august-the-dormition-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary/

A look at: Liber Requiei Mariae "Book of Mary's Repose" http://4marksofthechurch.com/liber-requiei-mariae-the-book-of-marys-repose/

The largest Lady Chapel attached to any British Cathedral. https://www.elycathedral.org/about/history-heritage/the-lady-chapel

The Lady Chapel at Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, in Philadelphia https://www.saintmarksphiladelphia.org/grounds

"The relic formerly known as the "shirt" and now called the Veil of the Virgin" https://www.cathedrale-chartres.org/en/cathedrale/pelerinages/

One of the most spectacular cathedrals in the world is dedicated to the Virgin Mary: https://www.cathedrale-chartres.org/en/

'this holy tunic blessed at Chartres has touched the precious clothing of the Virgin Mary’ http://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/amulets/index.php/miracles-amulet8/index.html#:~:text=The%20tunic%20was%20said%20to,tunic%20and%20the%20Virgin%20Mary.

"Where Is The Tunic Of The Virgin Mary? https://www.tourisme83.com/the-tunic-of-mary-a-christian-relic-with-a-long-and-complex-history/

A Prayer to Saint Anthony https://stanthonyshrine.org/st-anthony/unfailing-prayer-to-st-anthony/#:~:text=O%20gentle%20and%20loving%20St,Amen.

Gethsemane Ministries is a lay catholic movement founded in 1997 in the Archdiocese of Toronto: Saint Michael Prayer https://gethsemaneministries.com/saint-michael-prayer/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5cS25e-4_wIVVCOtBh0_zQzbEAAYASAAEgJe6PD_BwE

"Cardinal calls Catholics to attend global Eucharistic adoration" https://aleteia.org/2020/11/19/cardinal-calls-catholics-to-attend-global-eucharistic-adoration/

EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network) Global Catholic Network, instructions on Eucharistic Worship: https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/instruction-on-eucharistic-worship-2171

How to go to the Adoration https://catholic-link.org/how-to-go-to-adoration-eucharist/

Opens as a PDF:
"What looks and tastes like bread and wine is NOT bread and wine anymore. By the power of the Holy Spirit and through the words and actions of the Priest, the bread and wine have BECOME the Body and Blood of Jesus. Jesus is REALLY present in the Eucharist."
https://churchofstpius.org/documents/2017/1/OrderOfMass.pdf

The Fraticelli https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06244b.htm

Armenian Orthodox Church in America: "The Sinlessness of Mary" https://www.oca.org/questions/saints/sinlessness-of-mary
-and-
That 1700 year of Cathedral we mentioned:
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin: "Who We Are" https://www.armenianchurch.org/index.jsp?sid=1&id=10472&pid=3

For more "Eastern" flavor: The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America https://www.goarch.org

Martin Luther's Preface to the Revelation of St. John (1522) https://www.universitylutheran.church/luther-on-revelation.html
A related look from our study of the Apocalypse of John: http://centralparkchurchofchrist.org/revstudy/rev5w.htm

A kingdom from 4000 BC. https://www.harappa.com/slide/priest-king-mohenjo-daro

One of the "lost books" isn't quite as lost as you thought it was:
the "Secrets of Enoch" https://archive.org/details/bookofsecretsofe00morf/mode/2up

Marquette University academic paper, PDF: https://www.marquette.edu/maqom/legend123.pdf
The section about Melchizedek begins on page 24.

The Apocryphahttps://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/apo/index.htm

The Nag Hammadi Codices and Gnostic Christianity https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-artifacts/the-nag-hammadi-codices/
With links to the texts: "An Overview of the Nag Hammadi Scriptures" http://gnosis.org/naghamm/nhl.html

Full text of "The Gospel Of The Birth Of Mary.pdf as a PDF.
https://archive.org/stream/pdfy-YGBTCrPSZM45s5va/The%20Gospel%20Of%20The%20Birth%20Of%20Mary_djvu.txt

Our study of Jonah http://centralparkchurchofchrist.org/minorprophets/jonah1.htm

"Is the Woman in Revelation the Virgin Mary?" http://centralparkchurchofchrist.org/revstudy/mary.htm

A work from the Second Century, written in Greek, possibly written by a gentile Christian who was very familiar with the local Jewish community in the area of Syria, and had heard the teachings of those familiar with the word of the first church fathers that had learned from the Apostles. As we mentioned in the article, this may have been provoked by any of several heretical sects that believed almost everything EXCEPT the Gospel as proclaimed by the Apostles. Also, in the Didache, there is NO MENTION of the Virgin Mary as an object of Veneration:
The Didache The Lord's Teaching Through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations. https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/didache.html

Part One of this article.

THE MYSTERIES OF THE ROSARY
Fifth Glorious Mystery: The crowning of Our Lady Queen of Heaven.
https://www.vatican.va/special/rosary/documents/popup/popup05_glo_en.html

"Vatican II explained the doctrine of infallibility as follows: "Although the individual bishops do not enjoy the prerogative of infallibility, they can nevertheless proclaim Christ’s doctrine infallibly. This is so, even when they are dispersed around the world, provided that while maintaining the bond of unity among themselves and with Peter’s successor, and while teaching authentically on a matter of faith or morals, they concur in a single viewpoint as the one which must be held conclusively. This authority is even more clearly verified when, gathered together in an ecumenical council, they are teachers and judges of faith and morals for the universal Church. Their definitions must then be adhered to with the submission of faith"
https://www.catholic.com/tract/papal-infallibility

"This year on August 22, we celebrate the Memorial of the Queenship of Mary, honoring Mary’s queenship over heaven and earth. Here at the Basilica, Mary is portrayed as Queen of the Universe, Queen of Missions, Queen of Ireland, Queen of All Hearts, Queen of Peace, and more throughout our sacred art and architecture.
Why We Honor Mary as Queen
The Memorial of the Queenship of Mary was first instituted in 1954 by Pope Pius XII. According to Catholic tradition, as Christ is king of the world and saves the people from their sins, Mary is queen over the earth because of her role in the story of divine redemption, serving as mother to the Savior...."
https://www.nationalshrine.org

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